— Coming off back-to-back road losses at Creighton and Missouri, No. 10 Kansas plays host to N.C. State on Saturday. Since losing to the Tigers in Columbia on Sunday, the Jayhawks will return to the court to face the Wolfpack inside Allen Fieldhouse. During his weekly press conference on Thursday, I asked Coach Self if he liked the long break or if he would have preferred to play before Saturday's home game against N.C. State?
“Well, such a long break,” said Self. “Six days, no, I think we needed time. So yeah, when things aren't going great, sometimes you want to turn it around quick, and sometimes you want to try to improve some things that you're not doing very well.
“And I'd say in our case, I think the latter's probably better for us.”
— On that same note, Self said that he’s been pleased with how the team has responded in practice since returning home from Columbia. Guys appear to be in very good spirits and have had good attitudes at practice.
“Yeah, yeah,” said Self. “Well, I think attitudes are good and trying hard, and we had a really good day yesterday, and hopefully, we will do some things obviously a lot better than what we did for 25 minutes on Sunday. That was awful. But the guys didn't lay down, they didn't quit, fought back, cut it to two, and had some things not go right doing that still, but still cut it to two.
“So by no means is that a moral victory by any stretch, but it was at least something that we can draw from that was positive,” he added. “On that particular day.”
— N.C. State will arrive in Lawrence this weekend with an overall record of 7-3. The Wolfpack own victories over USC Upstate, Presbyterian, Coastal Carolina, Colgate, William & Mary, Florida State, and Coppin State.
The three defeats have come at the hands of Purdue, BYU, and Texas. Self, on Thursday, was asked about N.C. State and what stands out.
“Well, they started out 5-0, and then I think Purdue got 'em in their first loss, and that was a good basketball game down to the wire, very athletic, and they play a lot like Missouri as far as switch to deny and pressing. And although Missouri didn't press, they pressured. And I think that NC State may press a little bit more than Missouri did against us, but certainly, they're going to pressure, can we handle that, can we get open one pass away, and can we play behind?
“Their initial pressure was something we didn't do very well at all on Sunday,” he added.
— Obviously, there’s been quite a bit of speculation about Shakeel Moore and his future at Kansas. Self, during his press conference, provided the latest update on KU’s talented guard.
“He's practiced the last two days and looked good,” said Self. “So I don't know what his availability will be a Saturday yet, but I'm hopeful that he could be available to us.
“But still putting a guy out there that hadn't played basically in eight weeks against a really good team like North Carolina State, I don't know if that's the direction that we positively want to go, but he's trending in a way that hopefully he's going to be with us and be full speed real soon,” he added.
“Well, such a long break,” said Self. “Six days, no, I think we needed time. So yeah, when things aren't going great, sometimes you want to turn it around quick, and sometimes you want to try to improve some things that you're not doing very well.
“And I'd say in our case, I think the latter's probably better for us.”
— On that same note, Self said that he’s been pleased with how the team has responded in practice since returning home from Columbia. Guys appear to be in very good spirits and have had good attitudes at practice.
“Yeah, yeah,” said Self. “Well, I think attitudes are good and trying hard, and we had a really good day yesterday, and hopefully, we will do some things obviously a lot better than what we did for 25 minutes on Sunday. That was awful. But the guys didn't lay down, they didn't quit, fought back, cut it to two, and had some things not go right doing that still, but still cut it to two.
“So by no means is that a moral victory by any stretch, but it was at least something that we can draw from that was positive,” he added. “On that particular day.”
— N.C. State will arrive in Lawrence this weekend with an overall record of 7-3. The Wolfpack own victories over USC Upstate, Presbyterian, Coastal Carolina, Colgate, William & Mary, Florida State, and Coppin State.
The three defeats have come at the hands of Purdue, BYU, and Texas. Self, on Thursday, was asked about N.C. State and what stands out.
“Well, they started out 5-0, and then I think Purdue got 'em in their first loss, and that was a good basketball game down to the wire, very athletic, and they play a lot like Missouri as far as switch to deny and pressing. And although Missouri didn't press, they pressured. And I think that NC State may press a little bit more than Missouri did against us, but certainly, they're going to pressure, can we handle that, can we get open one pass away, and can we play behind?
“Their initial pressure was something we didn't do very well at all on Sunday,” he added.
— Obviously, there’s been quite a bit of speculation about Shakeel Moore and his future at Kansas. Self, during his press conference, provided the latest update on KU’s talented guard.
“He's practiced the last two days and looked good,” said Self. “So I don't know what his availability will be a Saturday yet, but I'm hopeful that he could be available to us.
“But still putting a guy out there that hadn't played basically in eight weeks against a really good team like North Carolina State, I don't know if that's the direction that we positively want to go, but he's trending in a way that hopefully he's going to be with us and be full speed real soon,” he added.
